Vietnam needs to change its rules

The gaming legislation of the country is not attractive for casino operators.

Vietnam.- In order to increase casino operators’ investment in Vietnam, the country would have to rewrite its laws about the industry. Union Gaming Securities Asia Ltd. claims to focus on locations and taxes to appeal to investors. As it is right now, Vietnam is far from being competitive in the region.

“The locations would be critical,” stated the Union Gaming Securities analyst, Grant Govertsen. The fact is, new locals are not approved by the government and the few that currently work are placed outside of main cities. “Current thinking includes a north, central, south and southwest (Phu Quoc island) strategy,” said Govertsen.

The government is also expected to reduce minimum investment requirement (nowadays set at US$4 billion.) Besides, taxes rates are set at 35 percent which is too high to be attractive. “It remains to be seen if a new draft decree will lower the effective tax rate further, which we believe would be necessary for Vietnam to complete effectively on a regional basis and attract world-class developers,” the Union Gaming analyst stated.

But that’s not it. According to Stellar Group CEO Augustine Ha Ton Vinh, Vietnam is debating the idea of allowing locals to gamble since last year. The fact that residents have to demonstrate their financial capacities —like, a minimum monthly income of US$750— is another restriction for the industry to grow. However, things may change soon in accordance to the industry’s demands.